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St. George's College
Old Boys'
Association
ON, Canada
Part 3 of 4
Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
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Class of '59 Reunion May 28 - 30th, 2009
My Recollection |
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Front
seated: Bernie Chin, Dennis Charley, Derek
DeMercado,Robbie Vernon
2nd Row- Barbara Stanley,
Patrick Terrelonge, Raymond Steele, Stephen Hill, Najat Khourieh, Diane
Hill, Gloria Thompson Braham, Robert Hill, Patrick Wilmot, Trevor
Munroe, Peter Lue, Hilary HoSang ,Dennis Lawton
Back Row: Godfrey
Lue, Claudette Comrie-Chin, Richard Chang. |
What a memorable 50th high school reunion of the graduating class of 1959 where
nostalgia permeated every event. On Thursday May 28, the '59 graduates from
Alpha Academy and St. George's College joined to celebrate a historic reunion
beginning with a most memorable mass at Holy Trinity Cathedral with
Archbishop Lawrence Burke, SJ as the
chief celebrant. The Archbishop told us about the cathedral restoration project
and reminded the audience that the resources needed to complete the project
rested in our pockets.
With a resounding chorus of devotion
the cathedral once again echoed the reverberations of our uplifted voices like
it did so long ago to please Fr. Feeney at First Friday Mass.
Thanks to the principal Margaret
Campbell for allowing us to freely tour the campus. We witnessed a dramatic
generational and cultural divide between our era then and now, and acknowledged
the challenge that Principal Campbell has undertaken. I was extremely impressed
by her enthusiasm and commitment in carrying on the legacy that has made St.
George's graduates informed citizens and models of academic excellence. I feel
confident that under her stewardship, fine young men such as student body head
boy Craig Jervis and executive prefect Jezeel Martin and others,
who were our tour guides, will soon carry that enviable mantle of becoming a St.
George's graduate.
The 50th reunion nostalgia continued
into Friday evening's formal cocktail and dinner program at the Knutsford, where
the early arrivals greeted old friends with high spirited enthusiasm and
bantered on about the old days to what's happening now. As the dinner hour
approached the organizing committee was pressed into performing a small miracle
of seating those who did not RSVP or who were fashionably late in true Jamaican
custom.
Thanks to our MC, the ever likeable
impresario of comedic quip, Paul Bitter, for keeping us laughing at ourselves or
others throughout the evening. There was no faux pas that he couldn't turn into
his advantage, usually at your expense.
We leisurely dined on the main entrée
of North Street Chicken and filled our sweet tooth with O'Hare Pudding for
dessert while enjoying old standards provided by our own Keith Lyn of
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires fame.
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Professor Robert Hill |
After a satisfying meal, we were
treated to two keynote speakers, the Hon. Beverly Lopez CD, OJ and our
own Prof. Robert Hill, class of '59. Bobby gave us a rare glimpse of his
verbal acumen and shared his research on the puzzling origins of why the school
was named St. George's, despite the fact that St. George was not a Roman
Catholic saint. He also presented artifacts that traced the move of the school
to its present location at Winchester Park.
St. George's College has always been
about setting the standards, and it must have been in this vein that a debate
"Jamaica Then and Now" was scheduled into the reunion program. To the delight of
most who attended, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Hon. Bruce Golding,
StGC class of '62, was one of the panelists, as was Dr. Trevor Munroe,
class of '59, Prof. Patricia Anderson, class of 1959 Alpha and Mrs.
Jean Lowrie-Chin JP class of 1967 Alpha. |
The debate was moderated by Ronnie Thwaites, class of '59, and MP from Central Kingston. Ronnie provided color
commentary on the panelists and moved the program along so as to accommodate the PM's tight schedule.
From the introduction and opening
remarks given by Stephen Hill, class of '59, whose pace and eloquence set the
tone of the debate to the last comments from the floor, the substance of the
debate kept the audience sharply engaged.
Saturday evening came too soon, and
probably provided the most entertainment. What would you give to see Michael
King, Trevor Summers, and Stephen Hill, members of the Manning Cup
championship team of 1959, try to maneuver a miniature soccer ball, without the
use of their hands, tied to a string that extended from their waist to the floor
in a race to move a small object across the floor by striking it with their
balls. Trevor Summers handily won the race showing off the speed and ball
control he possessed while playing on the right wing. What you also missed were
Georgian icons, the great footballer Ambassador Anthony Hill; football
legends Walter "Blubber" Campbell and Winston, "Dynamite" Lyn. And
who knew that Lloyd Chung could sing with the best of them and that
Dennis HoSang would be the 50s rock and roll dance King.
Georgians travelled from far and wide
to be there: Patrick Wilmot from England, Dennis Lawton,
Anthony Wong, Philip Wong, Raymond (Bull) Steele,
Robert Hill, and myself from the USA and Robbie Vernon, Trevor Summers,
Godfrey Lue, Lloyd Chung from Canada.
Yes, the Alpha/St. George's 50th
reunion ended with fond goodbyes as some retreated with tired feet but all glad
that they had passed this way one more time.
Our thanks to the StGC & Alpha
Reunion committee for the effort put out to make this a most memorable occasion.
Patrick Terrelonge
StGC and Claudette Comrie-Chin, Alpha, co-chaired an excellent team with
Richard Chang, Dennis Charley, Stephen Hill, Jean Fairweather Wilson and Joye
Reid in Jamaica: Robbie Vernon and Barbara Stanley in Canada
and Owen Cooke, Dennis Lawton, Bernard Chin and Hilary HoSang in the USA.
Bernie Chin, California
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Front Row: L-R
:Patrick Terrelonge, Marcia Chin, Pam
Summers, Heather Vernon, Trevor Summers
Behind: L-R : Headboy -Craig Jervis, Robbie Vernon, school tour
guide, Bernie Chin, Lloyd Chung, school tour guide, Hervin Chung,
Raymond Steele. |
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Caught
going toe to toe with Gloria Thompson Braham Right are: L-R:
Janet Kirlew Stewart, Winsome DaCosta, Ambassador Anthony Hill, Pat
Terrelonge, Hilary HoSang, Dennis HoSang, Pam Chang, Michael King. |
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Margaret Campbell |
Greetings Old Boys
and Friends of St. George's College,
The 2008-2009 academic year is fast
coming to a close. Our fifth and sixth formers are currently sitting their CSEC
and CAPE examinations and we pray for their success. Our valedictory service
for the fifth form students was held in April. The unfortunate absence of
electricity threatened to compromise the ceremony but the school community,
including the guest speaker, Georgian Fr. Howard Thompson, rose to the
challenge and the service was a beautiful one. You may view pictures of the
event in our gallery on our website www.stgc.org.
We had our election of student
leaders in April and our Head Boy for the upcoming academic year is Craig
Jervis and deputies Alex Moulton and Alexander Linton; three
wonderful young men.
Repairs to the buildings on the campus continue with the Adrian Chaplain
building which is receiving a face lift. Windows long missing have been
replaced and we are now in need of equipment for the industrial arts classes
which are housed there. The O'Hare is next on the agenda; a project I have
affectionately dubbed "Repair the O'Hare". Though it breaks my heart to rip out
the wonderful old wooden flooring, alas . . . what must be, must be. We have
turned this into a positive and are creating plaques from the wood which we will
give to donors who contribute towards the project. The wood is from the
original flooring of 1913.
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O’Hare Restoration in progress at
June,2009 |
As contributions continue to come
in toward the construction of the Archbishop Lawrence A. Burke Centre, we would
like to thank those of you who have been so generous. We are still in need of
funding and anticipate your continued support. The Centre will allow us to
improve the academic offering to our students and we anxiously await its
completion. We would like to start construction in the summer. A very special
"thank you" to Carl Chang who continues to contribute so much toward the
building construction and maintenance repairs so desperately needed at the
College.
Our successes in sports continue. We
recently won the all island under 19 basketball competition and placed seventh
in the Grace Kennedy/ISSA Boys and Girls Athletic Championships, additionally
receiving an award for being the most improved school. Kemarki Absolom
of fifth form placed first in the Penn Relay high jump and we are currently in
the semi-finals for rugby.
We have started distribution of a monthly e-newsletter to keep you up-to-date on
the happenings at the college. Please send us an email at principal@stgc.org if
you are interested in receiving the newsletter.
We have been very blessed at the
College this school year. Thank you for your support and may God bless you all.
Margaret
Campbell, Principal
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